SAN JOSE, Calif. – It’s not him, it’s us.
When it comes to criticism of St. Louis Blues winger Vladimir Tarasenko, his teammates have adapted George Costanza’s old "it’s-not-you-it’s-me" line from Seinfeld.
With the Blues trailing the San Jose Sharks 1-0 heading into Game 2 Monday night, Tarasenko has one even-strength goal in 14 playoff games this spring and just 14 points in 31 post-season appearances going back to St. Louis’ elimination by San Jose in the 2016 Western Conference Final.
After Tarasenko registered only one shot in Saturday’s 6-3 loss, Blues coach Craig Berube told reporters on Sunday: "We definitely need him to do more offensively, for sure. But not just him; we need our top line, our top guys, to create chances and get chances and produce. He definitely has to do more, along with other guys."
Tarasenko did a fly-by through the dressing room after Monday morning’s skate, but frequent linemate Ryan O’Reilly said the criticism of Tarasenko is fair but should be applied to all of St. Louis’ top players.
"It’s what we get paid to do and we haven’t been doing it good enough," O’Reilly, whose 10 playoff points are four more than Tarasenko’s, told Sportsnet. "You can’t just look at Vladi; I think all of us know our last performance wasn’t good enough – all of us together. When things don’t go well, obviously it’s going to fall on the leaders, the guys getting the big bucks. We have to perform better. We have to be the guys driving this bus."
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ERIK THE BLACK AND BLUE
Sharks defenceman Erik Karlsson’s veiled rebuke of St. Louis’ physical play in Game 1 didn’t get much reaction from the Blues.
St. Louis power forward Pat Maroon wasn’t even aware of the quote.
"I think that we played hockey tonight; they worried about a few other things," Karlsson said. "And we won the game."
"If that’s what he said, that’s what he said," Maroon responded. "There are times to hit guys and times not to hit guys."
Karlsson, a two-time Norris Trophy winner who missed 27 games late in the season with a groin injury, was targeted Saturday and absorbed heavy hits from Sammy Blais and Joel Edmundson.
"Maybe we ran around, I would say, a little too much," St. Louis forward Brayden Schenn said Monday. "Obviously, we were physical. It’s all part of being in a long series. I think when you get guys like Karlsson and (Brent) Burns and (Logan) Couture, they’re good and dynamic and good with the puck. If you make them think someone’s coming to hit you, maybe it throws you off a little mentally.
"But those guys are good players and they’re going to make good plays. They’ve been dealing with it their whole careers where guys are physical on them. We have to continue to be physical and try to wear them down."
REBOUND
The Blues have been excellent at rebounding after losses, but there is only a small sample size.
St. Louis finished the regular season 28-8-5, and only twice followed one regulation loss with another. In the playoffs, they’ve lost consecutive games twice. Goalie Jordan Binnington is 10-2-1 with a .936 save percentage after losses since his mid-season promotion from the AHL.
"I think there’s character in this locker room," Schenn explained. "We’ve been playing pretty much playoff hockey since Jan. 1 and had our backs against the wall. We didn’t quit last series in Game 6 or Game 7, and we’re certainly not going to quit now being down one."
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CUP FOR ALL
Look past the story about 39-year-old Shark Joe Thornton still trying to win his first Stanley Cup and you’ll see a pile of veteran players, many of them in their 30s, looking for the same reward.
St. Louis defenceman Jay Bouwmeester, 35, has played 1,184 regular-season games in the National Hockey League but never made it to the Stanley Cup Final. San Jose blue-liner Brent Burns, 34, has logged 1,043 games and been to one final – losing to the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2016.
"At the end of the day, we all want to win it individually, for the city, for each other, for a lot of different reasons," Burns said. "You’ve been dreaming about it so long, since I can remember. We all just want to win everything."
Shark defenceman Marc-Edouard Vlasic (965 NHL games) said: "We’re not doing it for one guy, we’re doing it for everybody because everybody deserves to win."
